An Arcane Inheritance was my first ever indie book. I picked it up while looking for more dark academia with an academic rivals dynamic, and that was what initially drew me in.

I would not say this is the worst-written book ever, but I definitely had a few issues with it. First, the writing and editing felt messy at times. For example, there was a scene where the MMC said they should leave before lunch, but once they were out, he asked if she was up for dinner, and then when they finally ate, it was referred to as lunch. Small inconsistencies like that happened more than once. Second, the writing often felt overly complicated for no real reason, as though difficult words were being used simply for the sake of sounding complex. Third, the author sometimes introduced acronyms or shortened terms before ever explaining what they meant, only clarifying them much later. The same thing happened with certain references or concepts that were mentioned before they were properly introduced, which made the reading experience more confusing than it needed to be.

These issues did not completely ruin the book for me, but they definitely made it less enjoyable. On top of that, the story itself was quite difficult to follow, both in terms of the plot and the pacing.

That said, there were still things I liked. I enjoyed the characters, and I thought the general premise was interesting. The core idea behind the story was genuinely cool, even if I do not think it was executed as well as it could have been.

Overall, I would give it 3 stars. It was not boring since I finished it quite quickly, but it was not particularly memorable or mind-blowing either. For me, it was just okay.

This is the first non-fiction book I’ve ever read, and it was definitely a very surprising one. A friend gifted me this book, and I was honestly shocked by a lot of what it revealed. Living in the same country where this prison is located, and knowing how parts of Indonesia are run, made the story feel even more believable and unsettling.

Overall, I do think it’s a good book, but it took a lot out of me to finish because of how triggering and disturbing it was. I honestly would not recommend it to most people for that reason. Even though the book sometimes tries to approach the situation in a lighter way to make it a bit easier to get through, it is still a story about life inside a prison, so much of what it contains is deeply vile and upsetting.

Rating: 3.0 Star

Another wonderfully done story by Stephen Fry. This felt like such a satisfying conclusion to the quartet of Greek myth retellings he wrote. All four books are incredibly well written, gripping, and most importantly, easy to follow and enjoy. I will never stop recommending the audiobook, because hearing it narrated by Stephen Fry himself genuinely makes the experience so much better.

Of course, the story stays very faithful to the original source material, and that made diving into the world of Greek mythology even more enjoyable. I may be a little biased because I have always loved The Odyssey and its retellings, but this is definitely my favourite out of the four books.

Rating: 4.25 Stars